Billy Breathes
Encyclopedia
Billy Breathes is the sixth official studio album by American rock band Phish
. It remains one of the most popular Phish
albums, and is credited (like the later release Farmhouse
) with connecting the band to a more mainstream audience beyond its strong cult following. Rolling Stone
said that Billy Breathes is "a quiet gem of an album" that confirms Phish "is much more than a jam band
from Burlington, Vermont
."
The album includes the song "Free", the band's most successful chart single, which peaked at #11 on Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart
and at #24 on Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart
Tracks 5 and 9 are instrumentals. "Bliss" is the only song on the album to have never been played live by the band. The album's final track, "Prince Caspian", is also the name of a mythical prince in The Chronicles of Narnia
, a fantasy series by British novelist C. S. Lewis
.
The cover of the album is a close-up shot of bass guitar player Mike Gordon
, the first time that any member of Phish had appeared on an album cover. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio
recalled in a 1997 interview that the cover came together very quickly on the last day of recording.
The album was certified Gold by RIAA January 8, 1999.
In February 2009, this album became available as a download in FLAC
and MP3
formats at LivePhish.com.
The album was recorded between February and June 1996 at the now defunct Bearsville Studios in the Catskills area of New York State. Early recording started February 1, with the band intending to produce the album themselves with engineering by John Siket. The first recording project was an attempt to create a sonic "blob" that filled an entire reel of tape. Each band member contributed on several instruments. This idea was later abandoned but elements were used on the tracks "Swept Away" and "Steep".
Rough mixes of songs were made after recording for most of February and March. The band took a break from recording beginning on March 20, and each listened to the rough mixes during their time off. Rough mixes included the songs "Free", "Grind", two versions of "Strange Design", "Swept Away/Steep", "Talk", "Waste" and "Weekly Time". Phish played one live show in April and then returned to Bearsville on May 1 to resume recording.
With the reumption of recording, Steve Lillywhite
joined as producer on the recommendation of Dave Matthews. Lillywhite had never heard of Phish before he joined the Billy Breathes sessions. He reflected in February 2011:
After Lillywhite joined, many of the songs were recorded in the early morning hours. "We did a lot of that album at five in the morning, when the sun was coming up. It kind of sounds like that, especially the stuff on side two like "Billy Breathes" and "Prince Caspian", "Swept Away" all that stuff was recorded as the sun was coming up" said Trey in a 1997 interview. On June 6, 1996, near the end of the sessions, the band played a surprise show in the neighboring town of Woodstock at a local bar called Joyous Lake.
The song "Strange Design", which the band had been playing live since May 1995, was recorded during the Billy Breathes sessions but was left off the album. The band recorded several versions of the track before settling on a final version. This was later included on the Free European single CD release. Phish lyricist Tom Marshall
spoke of the "Strange Design" outtake in 1996:
Trey Anastasio recalled in a 1997 interview that the cover came together very quickly on the last day of recording.
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
. It remains one of the most popular Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
albums, and is credited (like the later release Farmhouse
Farmhouse (album)
Farmhouse is the eighth official studio album by the American rock band Phish. The tracks were recorded at The Barn, frontman Trey Anastasio's studio in Vermont. The album was released on May 16, 2000, by Elektra Records...
) with connecting the band to a more mainstream audience beyond its strong cult following. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said that Billy Breathes is "a quiet gem of an album" that confirms Phish "is much more than a jam band
Jam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
from Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
."
The album includes the song "Free", the band's most successful chart single, which peaked at #11 on Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
and at #24 on Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart
Tracks 5 and 9 are instrumentals. "Bliss" is the only song on the album to have never been played live by the band. The album's final track, "Prince Caspian", is also the name of a mythical prince in The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...
, a fantasy series by British novelist C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
.
The cover of the album is a close-up shot of bass guitar player Mike Gordon
Mike Gordon
Mike Gordon is a bass guitar player and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish. Gordon is also an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano, guitar, harmonica and percussion...
, the first time that any member of Phish had appeared on an album cover. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio
Trey Anastasio
Trey Anastasio is an American guitarist, composer, and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish...
recalled in a 1997 interview that the cover came together very quickly on the last day of recording.
The album was certified Gold by RIAA January 8, 1999.
In February 2009, this album became available as a download in FLAC
FLAC
FLAC is a codec which allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed such that file size is reduced without any information being lost...
and MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
formats at LivePhish.com.
Recording
Early song ideas came from a scuba diving trip that Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall went on in the Cayman Islands in January 1996. They then produced a demo which was given to the other band members at the start of the Billy Breathes sessions. Other songs such as "Free" and "Taste" had already been in the band's live rotation since 1995.The album was recorded between February and June 1996 at the now defunct Bearsville Studios in the Catskills area of New York State. Early recording started February 1, with the band intending to produce the album themselves with engineering by John Siket. The first recording project was an attempt to create a sonic "blob" that filled an entire reel of tape. Each band member contributed on several instruments. This idea was later abandoned but elements were used on the tracks "Swept Away" and "Steep".
Rough mixes of songs were made after recording for most of February and March. The band took a break from recording beginning on March 20, and each listened to the rough mixes during their time off. Rough mixes included the songs "Free", "Grind", two versions of "Strange Design", "Swept Away/Steep", "Talk", "Waste" and "Weekly Time". Phish played one live show in April and then returned to Bearsville on May 1 to resume recording.
With the reumption of recording, Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite
Steve Lillywhite is an English Grammy Award winning record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited for working on over 500 records and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dave Matthews Band, U2, Peter Gabriel,...
joined as producer on the recommendation of Dave Matthews. Lillywhite had never heard of Phish before he joined the Billy Breathes sessions. He reflected in February 2011:
“Phish, for me, are the musical equivalent of watching a flock of birds fly across the sky: They don’t scatter every which way, but rather, they move with each other; they dip and dive, they go up and down; but at all times, they seem to have this radar, this instinct, for where the bird in front or in back of them is going. Musically, each member of Phish knows what the other is doing, which then carries over to the whole. The band can play anything, which then raises the question: Well, what should they play? With Billy Breathes, it’s the closest they got to making what I would say is a good stoner album. You know what I mean: you put on the CD, you fire up a big one and you just go down that road. There hadn’t been a good stoner record since Dark Side Of The Moon. Billy Breathes got close. I keep telling Trey Anastasio we can make a better one.”
After Lillywhite joined, many of the songs were recorded in the early morning hours. "We did a lot of that album at five in the morning, when the sun was coming up. It kind of sounds like that, especially the stuff on side two like "Billy Breathes" and "Prince Caspian", "Swept Away" all that stuff was recorded as the sun was coming up" said Trey in a 1997 interview. On June 6, 1996, near the end of the sessions, the band played a surprise show in the neighboring town of Woodstock at a local bar called Joyous Lake.
The song "Strange Design", which the band had been playing live since May 1995, was recorded during the Billy Breathes sessions but was left off the album. The band recorded several versions of the track before settling on a final version. This was later included on the Free European single CD release. Phish lyricist Tom Marshall
Tom Marshall
Tom Marshall may refer to:* Tom Marshall , Canadian poet and novelist* Tom Marshall , American singer/songwriter known for his association with the band Phish...
spoke of the "Strange Design" outtake in 1996:
"It was scrapped at the last second. The band was touring in Europe at the time and made the painful decision there - in Italy or France I think. The album was complete and about to be mastered. "Design" was to be the last song on the album - after Caspian. It was a bizarre version that no one ever really got used to. It was funny though - the second they got back to the States and played it in their new acoustic setup it was as strong as ever. It just couldn't be captured in the studio for whatever reason. Cutting it was one of those great decisions - after working so long and hard on the song, sacrificing it for the good of the album took a very wide focus - as much thought went into cutting it as went into recording it."
Trey Anastasio recalled in a 1997 interview that the cover came together very quickly on the last day of recording.
"We finished Billy Breathes and our manager kept saying, "What are you going to do about the cover?" So, finally, it was the LAST day, and it was, like three in the morning. They (management) said, "We NEED a cover tomorrow." You know all those pictures on the back? We cut them out and stuck them on with scotch tape. Mike was on the cover he just shot a picture of himself. The whole thing took like five minutes!"
Track Listing
- "Free" (AnastasioTrey AnastasioTrey Anastasio is an American guitarist, composer, and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish...
, MarshallTom Marshall (singer)Tom Marshall is a lyricist, keyboardist and singer/songwriter best known for his association with Trey Anastasio and the rock band Phish...
) – 3:49 - "Character Zero" (Anastasio, Marshall) – 4:00
- "Waste" (Anastasio, Marshall) – 4:50
- "Taste" (Anastasio, FishmanJon FishmanJon Fishman is an American drummer best known for his work with the band Phish. He is credited with co-writing 19 Phish originals, 8 of them as a solo credit....
, GordonMike GordonMike Gordon is a bass guitar player and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish. Gordon is also an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano, guitar, harmonica and percussion...
, Marshall, McConnellPage McConnellPage Samuel McConnell is an American multi-instrumentalist most noted for his work as a songwriter and keyboardist with the American rock band Phish....
) – 4:07 - "Cars Trucks Buses" (McConnell) – 2:25
- "Talk" (Anastasio, Marshall) – 3:09
- "Theme from the Bottom" (Anastasio, Fishman, Gordon, Marshall, McConnell) – 6:22
- "Train Song" (Gordon, LinitzJoseph LinitzJoseph Linitz is a lyricist whose songs, co-written with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, include the title track from Phish's Round Room and Train Song from Billy Breathes....
) – 2:33 - "Bliss" (Anastasio) – 2:03
- "Billy Breathes" (Anastasio) – 5:31
- "Swept Away" (Anastasio, Marshall) - 1:16
- "Steep" (Anastasio, Fishman, Gordon, Marshall, McConnell) - 1:37
- "Prince Caspian" (Anastasio, Marshall) - 5:19
Charting singles
- 1996, "Free" (No. 11, Mainstream Rock Charts)
- 1996, "Free" (No. 24, Modern Rock Charts)
Personnel
PhishPhish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
- Trey AnastasioTrey AnastasioTrey Anastasio is an American guitarist, composer, and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish...
- guitars, vocals - Page McConnellPage McConnellPage Samuel McConnell is an American multi-instrumentalist most noted for his work as a songwriter and keyboardist with the American rock band Phish....
- keyboards, vocals - Mike GordonMike GordonMike Gordon is a bass guitar player and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish. Gordon is also an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano, guitar, harmonica and percussion...
- bass guitar, vocals - Jon FishmanJon FishmanJon Fishman is an American drummer best known for his work with the band Phish. He is credited with co-writing 19 Phish originals, 8 of them as a solo credit....
- drums, vocals